Supreme Court Calls for Reconsideration of Mandatory Bar Membership

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ordered a federal appeals court to reconsider a First Amendment challenge to mandatory bar membership by a North Dakota lawyer, The ABA Journal reports. The Supreme Court vacated a judgment against lawyer Arnold Fleck and ordered the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis to reconsider the case, ordering it to take into account the high court’s June decision striking down mandatory union dues for collective bargaining on behalf of government employees, saying that dues violated the employees’ First Amendment rights. Fleck contends he should not be compelled to join a bar association.